Services

News

Council tax rise of 3.95% agreed in Monmouthshire

Report this comment

Fields marked with * are mandatory.

"So while everyone at MCC is running around saying what a great job they are doing, English councils are expected to have an AVERAGE rise of 0.6%.
As for the council pledge to protect education spending.... SEN cut (but that's not a direct school budget so that's ok)....16+ transport now to be paid for (but not direct school etc).

It's about time the grey pound started to contribute more not less rather than putting debt onto the young.

As for such non-professional behaviour at the meeting maybe the chair should be removed from those who cannot treat their colleagues respectfully. It sounds like there was little control."

Your name

Your email

Reason

Please note we will not accept reports with HTML tags or URLs in them.

MONMOUTHSHIRE council tax will increase by 3.95 per cent this year after councillors passed budget plans at a marathon meeting on Thursday.

They debated the proposed budget for about eight hours and voted to accept it in its entirety.

Cllr Phil Murphy, the cabinet member for resources, said cuts which have led to the tax rise were necessary because of “continued low funding from the Welsh Government.”

He said the authority was maintaining “above average achievement” with “below average spending” and was making “a modest call” on its reserves by increasing its council tax.

The leader of the Labour group, Cllr Dimitri Batrouni proposed to reverse cuts on special educational needs (SEN) funding and increases on swimming charges on over 60s.

He also opposed street lighting being turned off to save £85,000 per year.

But councillors voted against adopting the amendments.

And Cllr Bob Greenland, the council’s deputy leader, attacked what he said was Labour's “pie in the sky, fantasy economics”. He said the county council was approaching the “very minimum [reserve] levels it is prudent to have.”

He said: “I didn’t come into politics to put up charges but that’s the card we’ve been dealt.”

He said the approximate cost of 50 pence per week, which he said swimmers over 60s will be asked to pay, was “reasonable”.

A long string of amendments put forward by independents were also rejected.

They included a proposal to hold a referendum across the county for all council tax increases over two per cent.

The county council’s other deputy leader Cllr Phil Hobson said the £10,000 Cllr Graham Down had allocated for his plan would have been far higher, and more likely to be closer to £100,000.

The meeting became heated when Cllr Debby Blakebrough was told to “be a good girl” by chair Cllr David Dovey after several councillors became frustrated by the time she was taking to explain her support of the referendum proposal.

She hit back and told Cllr Dovey: “I am not a 'good girl'. I am a professional woman."

While Cllr Simon Howarth proposed reversing charges on post-16 transport. He said the council had a “moral obligation” to support the proposal. But the charges will now be implemented in September.

The council voted to adopt the Living Wage, or £7.65 per hour, for all county council staff.

Ipsoregulated

This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then please contact the editor here. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can contact IPSO here